The End Of The Line
by JolinarJackson
Summary: Captain John Hart had never expected to end like this: drowning in a corridor of an underground secret base with the current lover of his ex-boyfriend ...


**The End Of The Line**

_Word Count: _691

_Summary: _Captain John Hart had never expected to end like this: drowning in a corridor of an underground secret base with the current lover of his ex-boyfriend ...

_Characters: _John Hart, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness

_Pairing: _Jack/Ianto (hinted), Jack/John Hart (unrequited)

_Rating: _PG-13

_Spoiler: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang_

_Setting: _after_ Kiss Kiss Bang Bang_

_Author's Note: _Written for torchwood_las. The prompt was _Out of time_ and the additional word _flowers_.

_Beta:_ larsinger29, thank you!

_Disclaimer: _I'm not making money with this fanfic. The tv-show _Torchwood _and the characters appearing within it belong to their producers and creators. Any similarities to living or dead persons are purely coincidental and not intended.

xxx

Captain John Hart had never expected to end like this: drowning in a corridor of an underground base with the current lover of his ex-boyfriend, holding on to a lighting fixture to avoid sinking under the water, and with said ex-boyfriend not making much progress in rescuing them …

He shifted his hold around Ianto to pull him higher against his chest. Ianto groaned in pain. "Don't."

"I'll just let you drown then." He tried to ignore the fact that some of the water around them was stained red. A chunk of wall had caught Ianto right beneath his ribs during the explosion. With a bit of luck, he would soon lose consciousness from blood loss and skip the whole drowning business. John envied him that.

Ianto coughed weakly. "This is your fault."

John couldn't exactly deny that. "How was I to know that you're irresponsible enough to keep loaded grenades down here?"

"Says the guy who thought playing catch with a grenade would be fun."

"You should have caught it!"

"My back was turned!" Ianto coughed again and his head sank down on John's shoulder. "Couldn't see you throwing it."

"Who installs safety doors that lock in people anyway?"

While they'd talked, the water had risen further, lapping at John's chest now. He activated the comm link he'd taken from Ianto. "I don't mean to rush you, but we're kind of drowning here."

Jack's tense voice filtered through. _"Owen and Tosh are trying to install a shield to fix the wall. As soon as they're done and the sensors don't register new water coming in from the Bay, we can open the door."_

"Take your time, why don't you?"

"_How's Ianto?"_

"Holding on." There wasn't anything else to say, really, but the silence got to John. He didn't like it and always felt the need to fill it, no matter how. "If we don't make it, promise me you'll cry at my funeral. I want them to play _I will survive_ … and no flowers!"

"_Yes,"_ Jack said drily and John knew that he was just playing along, _"because Gloria Gaynor's fine, flowers on the other hand: that would be tacky."_

John chuckled.

"_Hand me over to Ianto, will you?"_

John rolled his eyes. He shrugged to catch Ianto's attention. "Jack wants to talk to you."

Ianto didn't react.

John shook him again, a bit harder. "Eye Candy." He turned Ianto to face him. His eyes were closed. "Ianto!" John held his hand against Ianto's mouth – still breathing.

"_John?"_ Jack asked anxiously.

"He's …," he began and then paused, unsure how to say it. Finally, he settled on, "He's not dead … the blood loss must have got to him."

Jack let out a breath and John could see him in his mind's eye, pacing back and forth, trying to remain calm. _"Okay."_

It was quiet for a minute and John assumed that Jack had muted the comm link to talk to the team alone. When he came back on again, John had put one hand over Ianto's mouth and nose, ready to cut off his breathing when the water rose high enough. He would be able to buy Ianto a minute or two by sharing his own air. Sometimes, a minute or two was all you needed.

"_John, Owen and Tosh have one last option left to try to get the shield to work. It's that or ..."_ Jack paused.

"Or nothing." John nodded. "Understood."

"_See you soon." _

"I hope so," John replied and threw the comm link into the water. He didn't want to risk hearing Jack telling him that he was sorry, that they couldn't help … he wanted to hold onto Jack's last words. He looked at Ianto. "Okay, Gorgeous, let's do this."

He took a deep breath and then the water stole the last bit of air they had left … and hope and Ianto were all John could hold on to.

END

06/12


End file.
